Philadelphia Revamps Branches

Faced with budget cuts, the Free Library of Philadelphia will operate 20 of 49 branches without librarians in order to enable systemwide Saturday service. The branches—each of which will be open four afternoon hours/six days a week—will be managed by a library assistant supervised by a library supervisor from a full-time branch.

The library was ordered to lay off 17 staffers to reach a ceiling of 630. The new plan, said library director Elliot Shelkrot, "is much better service than we are providing at the moment. Is it as good as when we had 760 staff [in FY01]? No." In 2004, Shelkrot said, only ten of 49 branches were open on Saturdays, along with three regional libraries and the central library. In addition, over a six-month period, in about 150 instances a branch had to close unexpectedly owing to staff absences.

Shelkrot said that the library could have continued as before, it could have closed six to eight branches, "or we could find some new way of providing service." He said the library board was adamant about not closing branches: "Once you close a branch, you're not going to open it up in the future."

The changes represent a loss in scheduled hours, given that the 20 branches will lose morning service, but Shelkrot said there will be no unexpected closings. Paraprofessionals will provide "light reference work," such as answering questions about branch holdings, while more complicated reference questions will be handled on the phone and later online. Did library officials look to a model? Shelkrot said he had heard that a West Coast system had adopted similar staffing patterns but was unable to confirm that. "I'm going to be pilloried," he said, anticipating reaction from the profession.

Allen Merry, a representative of the librarians' union, said staff wondered how much the system would save, given that 20 library supervisors would have increased duties and the library would have to create 20 more Library Assistant 3 positions to run the branches. Salaries for those jobs start at $31,472, or $4,672 less than the starting salary for a librarian. He also warned that "the service isn't going to be close. There won't be anyone in the branch paying attention to what materials the branch should be purchasing."